Cornish town may open 'warmth banks' to help combat soaring energy bills
The motion to provide warm spaces has been welcomed in Falmouth
Last updated 26th Sep 2022
A Cornish town could open 'warmth Banks' to create spaces for people struggling with rising energy costs.
The idea has been put forward for longer opening hours for areas including library settings, charities and the Dracaena Centre in Falmouth, to provide safe places for people to go if they need to keep warm.
Councillor Jayne Kirkham explained why she put the idea forward to Falmouth Town Council: "To make sure there were places that people could go to if they could get there that are going to be warm and safe. Again, it's crazy to say because the idea that people won't be warm in their own homes is awful.
"It was something that when the energy cap rose in April, people started to think about. Although the energy price is going to be capped, it's still going to be much higher than they ever were".
Disabled resident's bills rise to over £200pm
Local resident Steve is disabled and has already seen his energy bills rise to over £200 per month. He is worried about keeping his house warm in the winter months and told us he would welcome spaces like these appearing across the town.
"My electric went from £75 to £240 a month. That's before October's rise. I'm really concerned about myself and for people like myself.
"What I've been doing is only putting my heating on for about an hour in the morning and an hour at night before I go to bed, but if prices go up I'm not sure I'll be able to do that.
"A lot of people older and like myself that are disabled, we're not going to be able to heat our homes or we're able to heat one room as that's it.
"To be able to get out and go somewhere where you can keep warm. I think it'll be a fantastic place. It'll be nice if they're open for a long period and not just a small part of the day".
There is also a new focus on ensuring food aid and support is there and accessible for all those that need it, with communication between foodbanks and opening up new spaces if they're needed.
Cllr Jayne Kirkham has become named as the 'food champion' for the town, responsible for making sure families get what they need during the cost of living crisis.
She said: "Lots of people and organisations are trying to help at the moment but they're quite disparate. We have a foodbank which is based in Penryn, we have people who are going out and distributing food themselves, so we've got lots of people doing really really brilliant amazing stuff.
"It's kind of having that overarching view of what's available across the week so we can see where the gaps are and if we need to, we can fill them in".
The motions have been put forward with the intentions of helping people as many people in Cornwall as possible as the winter months approach.
Cllr Jayne Kirkham continued: "It's asking, do we have enough provision that's spread across different places and could we have somewhere that's more local to Falmouth?
"It's awful that we need foodbanks but the use of them has been rising over the last decade to the point this winter, we know we're going to need them".